The Panda Cupboard
by Fulcon
Summary: Wait...what? What's that noise coming from my Cupboard? Is that...what is that? It's...no way. Those Kung Fu Panda action figures, that belong to my brother, came to life. Agh! Why didn't I get the Indian in the Cupboard vibe when I saw the key?


_I do not Own Kung Fun Panda. I own this OC that talks to them a lot, though._

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"Wow…something from Santa. I'm so amazed." I said as I looked with distain at my new present from 'Santa'…a cupboard. It was made of a supple, dark brown wood and was very, _very_ big. Almost as big as my torso, really. Something that caught my eye, on the other hand, was the front of the door. In its grid-like wood work were animal designs that were etched into them…a panda, a small mouse-like thing with big ears, a tiger, a bird (probably a crane), a snake, a monkey and a mantis. Just below the knob was an ornate but undone silver lock. "Just what I always wanted."

"You don't like it?" Mom asked from the couch behind me. She had a face of sadness, from what I could see in the red and green light of the Christmas tree. She was lying against Dad's shoulder…who was asleep, of course.

"Nah, of course I like it!" I answered, replacing my mock-happy tone with a much more _believable_ happy-tone.

"Good." She bought it, like always. I'm skilled that way…a good skill to have, and don't let any parent tell you otherwise. It's like easy street but you don't have to deal with crap later.

Actually, this cupboard would look good on my left wall…so not entirely a bad gift in any case.

"Whoa! Kung Fu Panda action figures!" To my left, was my little, seven year old brother, Adam. He was in his blue and white striped pajama's…which you couldn't tell because the only light we had on was the Christmas tree, and it was green and red. The only reason I _knew_ the color of his pajamas was that they were the only one's he had.

At least I _think_…I haven't left the confines of the 'dungeon' (my basement) in over a week unless it was to grab some grub. This was not often at all. What could possibly make me condemn myself to such a fate during Christmas break?

Quite simple really, I had gotten myself a lap-top. And a 3D game-making program for my self as an early Christmas present. So I've been learning how to use the thing while blasting my ears out with the stereo system I got last year.

I'm making definite progress in making games, and should have my first FPS out for download next week…definitely a better way of spending my time than going to the party last week.

Any way, Adam was currently holding his large, rectangular plastic box, each with a plastic animal action figure of each of the characters for that DVD we got last week.

"I'll play with them forever!" Adam said happily.

Translation: I'm going to find them scattered around the floor within the next six hours and I'm going to salvage them for you to get back when you can actually _take care_ of your stuff.

Not that you know I do that, you little idiot.

I watched with a sigh as Adam tore open the plastic box and began bashing two of the figures (the panda and the tiger) together while making sound effects with his voice. "Hah, Tigress! You are no match for the power of the Dragon Warrior!"

I didn't hear what 'Tigress' had to say in response, as I picked up my cabinet and stocking (which was still full of candy) by the edges and walked away from the living room and down to the basement…not even needing to turn on the lights in the pitch-black halls, so good was my knowledge of it's depths.

Okay, my knowledge wasn't that good; I still needed to feel the wall with my hand so I could tell when I was at my bedroom door.

My bedroom, a small room with wooden paneling for walls had a book case on the right wall, right beside my closet door (which was an even smaller room with racks and shelves). To my direct right was my desk, a very neat state of affairs, with my lap-top being the only thing on it. My bed was in the center of the room.

The room was lit by a window which saw to the snow covered back-yard which sat above my window well. On my window sill was my stereo system. Chrome colored was the base system but the speakers were black.

Really, the only present I got this year was the Cabinet. Not really useless…I needed someplace to put more stuff…most of the useless trinkets I have (but of supreme importance to me) were currently running out of space to live and I was faced with expanding their apartment complex's or have them be homeless for eternity.

(That last bit was a joke, in case you didn't know.)

I put the cabinet on top of my book case, and opened the door. Inside, I saw many numerous little cubbies that I could put a small something inside, with a much larger single cubby making up the entire bottom half. Inside that bottom half, however, was an ornately designed silver key with a crimson ribbon attached to it.

I shut the cabinet for now…I needed to think of what to put in it. After, of course, I finish getting my daily twelve hours of sleep. Waking up at four o'crap in the morning was not helping me.

So without further ado, I collapsed onto my bed and went right to sleep.

* * *

Ah! One o'clock in the afternoon as was normally scheduled! As commemorative congratulations for myself, I reached over into my stocking and grabbed out a chocolate bar, un-wrapped it and plopped it into my mouth.

Now I could _really_ enjoy Christmas. By-what's that sound?

I was hearing strange and altogether odd noises coming from outside my bedroom door. Sounded like explosions, anime fight noises and an odd combination of the two both together.

I stood up to investigate, and walked out the door and down the lone hall of my lonely basement…at the end was Adam. He was out of his PJ's by now…and he was holding an X-Box 360 controller!

"How'd you get that?" I asked, pointing to the controller.

"It was one of the presents that I got from Santa. You went to bed before we could finish unwrapping all the presents." Adam explained, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.

Adam getting an X-Box 360?!? He can't even take care of a _Lego brick_ for more than a minute! What could Mom be thinking? "You? Why would Santa give _you_ an-"

"Because I was a good boy this year." He smiled at me before getting back to his game. I hated that smile. Really, I did. "And you didn't get that many because you were _naughty_ this year."

_More like Mom couldn't think of anything to get me other than the cabinet._ I thought derisively. My stomach grumbled at that time. _I should probably go get something to eat…_

As I started up the stairs, I accidentally stepped on something. Small and hard, and it _hurt_. I lifted my foot up and saw that it was a small, mantis-thing…one of the figures that Kung Fu Panda action figures Adam got this morning. Well, actually, it was just a small miniature thing.

_Adam, I thought you were going to play with these forever…_I thought condescendingly as I stuffed the miniature mantis in my pocket, continuing my trek upstairs.

When I got upstairs (momentarily blinded by the light the upstairs presented…must've been the extra windows) I accidentally kicked something. Looking down, I saw it was a panda thing.

Groaning, I picked it up, and walked over to the kitchen table put it on the table, and I noticed that the kitchen was empty…Mom and Dad probably were at dinner somewhere, and that meant that me and Adam were alone.

I looked in the kitchen. Aside from the numerous black counter-tops and dark brown cupboards

I fixed myself a bowl of cereal.

_Okay, after this, should I do a sweep of this floor to see if Adam left his toys everywhere, or should I just go work and see if I can think of anything that can go in my cabinet first? _I thought as I chewed on mouthfuls of Captain Crunch. _Or should I just forget both and work on my first person shooter?_

I finished my bowl in a hurry, satisfying my stomach instantly. I looked around, bored. The kitchen had many onyx black table tops, complete with an island counter in the middle. The cupboards were a light brown…and I was bored. Again.

_Okay, let's go for a sweep…and I'll steal all of Adam's action figures…until he figures out that I have them, which he won't because he never asks about anything after I take it. _I thought standing up…and then kneeling down again to pick up the Monkey.

After a few more minutes of searching, I had them all. From the Panda to the smaller, more endangered Panda known as 'Shifu' were in my arms.

I know, I seem kinda cruel to take his stuff, and it seems strange as their action figures and I'm an eighteen year old software geek who could really care less about action figures, but in reality, I have this odd compulsion to shelter any with in my home. Especially those who once belonged to my brother.

My closet is filled with his stuffed animals he got when he was an infant…though I didn't take those away until he stopped caring about them which was at about age six.

Hey, everyone's got their quirks, right? Right.

Now, I decided to give Adam one last chance with his action figures. It is, of course, Christmas. I walked down stairs and down the hall, action figures in hand. It didn't take long, it was unlike me to stay in one place for very long, and Adam knew this.

"Hey, my action figures!" Adam exclaimed, pausing his game and surveying the load in my hands. Then he got a thoughtful look on his face, looking away from me. "Hey, do you mind if I can keep them in your new cabinet?"

This stopped me for a second. _What?_ "Why the heck would you want to keep them in my new cabinet? Especially since you're not even aloud in my room?"

"Well…you know, your new cabinet has those cool designs on it and I thought…maybe that I could…" He stammered out.

Wait a second. How'd he know about the animal drawings? It was too dark for anyone but me to see anything at that blasted early hour…unless… "You went in my room to look at it, didn't you?"

"Well…yeah…" He looked at me with a guilty face.

I sighed. _If today was any other day than Christmas_… "Alright, fine. I'll let this slide. And if you want to play with your Panda action figures, you get me to get it for you, got it?"

Adam's expression lightened up immediately, I saw him smile and nod.

"Good! I'll put these in my Cabinet then…" _And you'll never ask me for your action figures again…because you'll forget…as always. _I thought as I slid like a snake into my room.

Okay! Now…I'll just do as I said I'd do…I opened the cabinet and put…well I'll be danged. There's a spot for each of these figures. The Panda, the 'Furious Five' and 'Shifu' all went in a designated spot…simply amazing!

And…strangely I don't care anymore. So, Po, Shifu, Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Crane, and…where's that last one…Mantis!

I fished around in my back pocket for the tiny plastic figure that was small enough to be an _actual mantis's _action figure, and placed it inside the imprint in the cubby. It was incredible…they fit perfectly.

_It was like Santa anticipated that I was going to do this…_Then I remembered that 'Santa' was actually Mom and Dad, I reasoned there was no way they knew I would do this, because if they did, they would've put a stop to it when I first started doing it…so ergo, this is totally by random chance.

So, I grabbed the key to lock the dang plastic piles of (word I'm not aloud to think) away for eternity. On the key was a crimson ribbon that was tied to the ring (you know, the circle part of the blasted key). This tugged slightly at the back of my mind to try to remind me of something.

I just couldn't remember what. This was very odd (and irritating) as I usually have an encyclopedic memory and the fact that I can't remember it means that it's either not important, or I'm a victim of that stupid '_Deus ex Machina_' (pronounced Day-us ecks Mak-ina) that happens to every character in fiction at one point or another. I hate that!

Driving me crazy piece of trivia aside, I closed the door, and clicked the lock into place.

_Now to get back to my FPS…_I thought as I sat at my desk and turned on my lap-top. I started up my game making program (and my Itunes. I can't go a second without my Heavy Metal). _Now…I've been having trouble with this floor-what was that noise?_

I heard…_something_. I didn't know what it was…maybe Adam switched to a new game? Actually, what game was he playing in the first place?

I thought the entire above paragraph as I exited my room. "Hey, Adam? What are you playing?"

"G.O.W2…" He said…squirming in his seat. I could tell he hoped that I didn't know what that was.

Yeah right, pal. "Oh. Okay. Continue."

7 year old playing G.O.W 2? Perfectly fine with that…Absolutely fine with that. Until tomorrow…When I kick him off forever because that games to gory and stuff. Actually, it's because _I _want to play. Blast it.

I walked back into my room…and my eyes immediately went strait to the nearest source of movement.

Which was my cabinet that was so precariously balanced on my bookshelf.

I gasped as I stopped the cabinet from moving…which would have eventually resulted in falling and I would've needed a new cabinet or something.

"Guys!" Someone yelled…from inside the cabinet! And it…sounded exactly like Jack Black. What the… "Very funny guys…what is this, some kinda…new Kung Fuey test-thing? Shifu? Can you hear me?"

Oh.

Oh no way.

This just like the '_Indian in the Cupboard_'…down to the key with the red ribbon attached to it. Gosh, why didn't I see it earlier?

Because Deus ex Machina. I _hate_ that thing.

"Po, I can hear you…and this isn't a test! Where are you?" It was Shifu. They've all come to life in my cupboard.

"I'm in a dark room! I don't know where…and if you didn't do this, than how'd I get here?" Po asked; panic seeping further into his voice.

"I don't know…I'm in a dark room too! I don't-"

"Master Shifu?!?" This was Viper talking now. "What's going on?"

"I don't know! One second I'm meditating and now we're here…is there anyone else trapped in a dark room?"

"I'm here, Master." Crane, Monkey, Mantis and Tigress all said at the same time.

You know, I should probably open the cupboard door. I'm just having fun listening to this chatter right now.

"Alright, everyone, we should all calm down." Crane said, now seeming so calm himself. "Okay, now how do we get out of this, Master? Po? Any ideas from anyone?"

I could just open the door…

"I was banging against the walls…and it seemed like it moved the room a bit." Po answered, starting to seem calmer already.

You know, if they keep banging against the walls, they'll break my cabinet. Actually, it's pretty sturdy, so they might not be able too.

"Alright…everyone, brace yourselves!" That was Tigress. I heard a thump, and the cabinet slipped right out of my hand! I re-caught it though and carefully set it back up right in my hands.

Okay, yeah. Time to open the door.

"Tigress, I think we shouldn't hit the walls." Shifu suggested. "When you hit it, it felt like we started falling…we may be on the edge of a cliff. We don't want to die here…"

"But Master!"

But rather than do it immediately, I carefully wedged my self on the side of my bed so I could hide behind the cabinet and not get totally destroyed by tiny Kung Fu Warriors. Then I reached over the cabinet and clicked the lock to 'un-locked'.

"Okay, if it seems we are unable to escape, then we'll hit the walls again. Not before. Now does anyone have any other ideas?" Shifu asked of his students.

I _carefully _nudged the door open by the very edge, and when it became appropriate, reached over on the other side and kept the door from re-closing by hitting the wall. I was lying on my tummy, so this was a bit easier…plus I couldn't be seen by my new _visitors_.

I could tell that they jumped from their perches, each landing with various success rates of success. I looked over…Shifu landed on his feet, as did the rest of his students…except for Po. He landed on his belly.

I shrunk from sight as they looked in my direction; trying to stop myself from breathing to loudly…I did _not _want them to have an excellent view of my face…with no arms or legs to stop them.

"Incredible…" That was Mantis…I could barely see him against my dark green carpet.

_Incredible…they look exactly as if you ripped them from the film and put them in this world…insane!_ _Almost gives them a 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' vibe._ I thought as I looked at them from the left side of my cabinet.

"Look…is that a…bed?" Viper asked, looking at my bed. Not a very big one by any stretch, but to them it must've been humungous.

"If that's a bed, it's the biggest one I've ever seen." Crane answered, looking up in the direction of the mattress. I ducked behind my cabinet again as his eyes reached my general direction.

"Yeah…" I heard Po. He sounded like he was going into a dream-like state, as if he was fantasizing about _sleeping_ on my bed. _My bed, pal. _MINE.

"Focus. Focus…focus." I heard Shifu tell Po. "We have to keep moving…and try to find some clue as to where we are…and how we get out of here."

"And I would very much like to have gone before who ever lives here gets back." Hey, wait. Where'd Jackie Chan come from? Oh wait, that's right. Monkey. Whoops.

"Right. Tigress, scale the…bed, and see what you can find from up there." Shifu ordered his pupil.

"Yes, Master." Tigress said, using her claws to scale my sheets. _If you tear those, so help me, I'll_…

Then I remembered that she'd _probably _have a good view of me, should she so choose to look in my general direction. So I quickly opened a hole in the sheets slid under my bed.

"What was that?" I heard Viper ask, fear creeping into her voice. "Tigress! You see anything?"

"I thought I saw something go under the sheets." She yelled back down.

_Crap!_ I thought in a panic.

"Did you see how big it was?" Shifu shouted his question up. I created a teeny-tiny hole by pushing the sheets up just a little bit to see him. He was looking up at the Kung Fu master atop my bed. Then he saw the hole I made, and I shut it quickly. I saw his eyes go wide before the little bit of light available to me died out. _Oh, no…_

I saw another bit of light emerge as Shifu dug his way under my sheets…guess they were a little heavy for him. It disappeared as he entered.

"Master Shifu?" I heard Po ask worriedly. "Can you see anything in there?"

"No, it's complete darkness…" Shifu answered. I thought I heard him slip and fall trying to get out from under the bed…so I helped him out by pinching the sheets together and lifting them just enough for Shifu to get out, but not enough to see me. I could see him look around in the darkness one final time before dashing through the hole.

"Are you okay?" I heard Crane ask.

"Yes, I'm fine…" Shifu answered. I could visualize him dusting himself off. "But I think whoever lives here, or something else entirely…is under there…"

I heard Po gulp. Or was that Crane?

"Tigress! Can you see anything?" Shifu yelled up after a second.

"A bunch of strange boxes…one glowing. Over there!" Tigress yelled from atop my bed.

I waited a second. _My laptop? They're going to see my laptop? Oh, they are so _not_…something to distract them from that…please!_ I searched around the under of my bed…until I came to something. I gave myself a little light to see what it was… _Hey, my Stereo Remote! I've been looking for this!_

I actually risked putting my hand out of the covers, pointing my remote at the stereo and pressed the 'play' button, and turned up the volume.

The first track had a very quiet intro, you see. _So Cold_ by _Breaking Benjamin_.

"What's that?" Asked Mantis, in reference to (I hope) the music. I peaked and they were, indeed, walking toward the music…Tigress joined them from a top my bed, leaping down with all the grace of a (what do you know) a cat.

At that point the song got at its loud point, and they all plugged their ears and shut their eyes at the sound. I took this opportunity to smuggle my cabinet under my bed…and I accidentally made some noise doing this, but it was minor and (hopefully) unnoticeable.

It had gotten to the much quieter lyrical part of the song. After one last check to make sure that they were all still there, I came out of the other side to examine the cabinet…there was another action figure I put in there, so I'm wondering: Where's Tai Lung?

A quick look told me my answer: In Tai Lung's spot was a pile of golden dust. _Huh, so he really IS dead then._

I shut the door, turned the key (again) locking it. Then I unlocked it, and there sat the action figure, lying at the base of the cubby. I picked it up… _Oh, I just had a brilliant idea. What if I put this next to my Laptop…wonder what that'll cause…hehe…_

So, acting like a snake, I stood it up on my desk right beside my computer. I also turned the computer off (or rather, started the shut-down sequence) and dove back under my bed. I continued to watch my Laptop until after it finished shutting down, and then closed the little observation hole I made.

_I feel like a monster, hiding under the bed like this…_I thought as I returned to watching my 'guests'.

By now, the song had ended, and I quickly stopped the stereo before it could go to the next song, because my laptop was safe, and I didn't need them covering their ears for much longer.

Actually, they stopped covering their ears a while ago, it would seem.

"What a sad song…" Viper said, her head drooping some what, her eyes down cast. "But…who sung it?"

"I don't know." Po answered. He walked up to one of my speakers, tapped on the grill a couple of times and then cupped his paws to his snout and yelled into the speaker: "Hey, is anyone in there?!?"

I almost guffawed at that. Actually, I did, I just covered it up with my mouth before I could make a loud sound. _Though I don't know why I'm still going with the stealth thing…Shifu knows I'm practically…oh yeah, so I can see their reaction to the Tai Lung action figure…_

I grinned evilly at that last thought, and decided to keep hidden.

"Be quiet! You could bring whoever lives here down on us, and he (or she) might not be happy that we're here…" Shifu silenced Po with a hit to the head with a staff.

"Master…" Tigress began, stepping forward. "Don't you think that whoever lives here brought us here, so he or she wouldn't be so surprised to see us…?"

"I thought that at first, but if he brought us here, then where is he?" Shifu asked Tigress. "If he's not under the sheets, then he will be surprised at our presence here, and judging from the size of this furniture, he will be a tough opponent to beat."

_Oh, I don't know about 'tough'…_ I thought as I heard this thing. _Tigress, you hit the nail on the head, I'm just hiding…but you know that._ _Or not…who am I thinking too, again?_

"Ummm…shouldn't we finish scouting out the area?" Crane suggested, pointing a wing to the rest of the unexplored confines of my room.

"You're right. Everyone, start exploring…we'll meet back here after we're done…just yell out if you think your in danger, or you think you've found something." Shifu instructed.

"Yes, master." Everyone did that 'fist in palm' farewell thing that they always did before jetting off (or in Po's case, walked off).

_Okay, so who's going to find the Tai Lung action figure, first?_ I thought with an evil grin in glee. _Po? Nah, to slow... Anyone else? That's probably a given that they all at the same time…_

"Master! Everyone, come quickly!" I heard Tigress on the top of my mattress.

"What is it, Tigress?" I heard Monkey ask, also on top of my mattress now.

"Yeah, what is it?" I heard Po gasp out. He actually made it up faster than I thought…wow. He's getting faster.

"Tai Lung." She answered, almost too quiet for me to hear. Almost, but not quite.

This got the expected reaction. Gasps all around…and I peeked out to look at the action figure. _Now, even though my brother never takes care of his stuff, it's my duty to take care of it for him until he starts taking care of his stuff…and even though I could come out severely mangled, I shall protect that action figure that looks just like a super villain. Yeah._

So I peaked out, ready to leap into action, making a larger than usual hole to expand my sight. I saw Crane flap his way over to the still form of Tai Lung, and examine it closely. He tapped it with the edge of his wing a few times, and then… "Hey guys, it's a statue!"

"A statue?" Shifu asked…once again from atop my bed. He seemed very relieved, it being plain in his voice.

_All right, enough of this _crap_._ I Thought as I exited the underside of my bed, and stood up to my full height.

Crane, the one I was facing, looked so shocked, I thought it was funny. I almost laughed at how far his eyes bulged out (so far that I thought they were going to bulge out of their eye sockets). I then bent down at the knee's to get a closer look at him…he fell flat on his but and he started to crawl back wards on his wings.

I looked at him for about a second, and then said. "Hi. How are you?"

* * *

_Author's Notes: Yes. I am insane for starting another fic. Especially since I haven't updated the rest of my other fics for you. I apologize. (YES, I am working on Phantom Fox.)_

_Anyway, the guy whose point of view you see, no matter how much you may think it, is not me._

_Also, this plot bunny belongs to Mystic Wolf (I think that's his/her name…) All credit goes to her for lending me this plot bunny._


End file.
